Die Csárdásfürstin

The celebrated singer Sylva Varescu is about to embark on a tour of America and is giving a farewell performance for her friends. Among them is the young prince’s son, Edwin. He believes he has found true love in Sylva and asks for her hand in marriage. Edwin’s father has heard about the affair. He puts a stop to it and instead announces Edwin’s engagement to Countess Stasi, a match befitting his station.
Months later, Sylva and Edwin meet again: their love is rekindled. Emmerich Kálmán completed his *The Csárdás Princess* in 1915, in the midst of World War I, when it had become unclear “how long the globe would keep turning, or whether tomorrow might already be too late.” Faced with this precarious world, the protagonists waver between melancholy and ecstasy and declare the moment to be eternity: “Let the whole world sink—I have you!”